Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a delivery and deployment devices, systems, and methods, more specifically to intraluminal and endovascular delivery and deployment devices, systems, and methods.
Discussion of the Related Art
Intraluminal and endovascular procedures provide many advantages over surgery, so much so that when intraluminal or endovascular treatment is an option, it is usually the preferred option. This preference arises from the fact that such procedures are minimally invasive methods of treating diseases. Benefits of minimally invasive procedures include more rapid procedures, shorter hospital stays, quicker recoveries, and lower risk of complications. Thus, expanding the number of procedures that can be performed intraluminally or endovascularly is a widely advantageous endeavor.
However, expanding the number of procedures that can be performed intraluminally or endovascularly requires improving the ability to deliver and deploy a device and/or treatment from a remote location, typically a location outside the body. To improve delivery, the lowest possible delivery profile is preferred to introduce into a vessel and traverse irregularly shaped, highly tortuous, heavily branched, and very narrow lumens or vessels to gain access to the treatment site. Obtaining a small delivery profile requires that the medical device be collapsed and constrained, typically onto a catheter. This is achieved by using a constraining device to hold the medical device in a collapsed and compressed configuration. However, deploying a constrained medical device presents additional issues.
Loading the medical device onto the catheter and into the constraint, to achieve the low profile, subjects the device to frictional forces, which may cause damage to the medical device. Frictional forces may also produce strain in the deployment system, impeding a stable, controlled deployment. Frictional force challenges are especially prevalent in deployment systems which employ a sliding sheath positioned external to the device and in braid and knit braid constraints. They are also of concern in systems using long catheters and those with constraints on or over long devices, both of which increase deployment friction. Typically, achieving a lower profile means increasing frictional forces and exacerbating the adverse effects associated therewith. As a result, the frictional forces limit, amongst other things, the types and dimensions of devices and treatments that can be deployed or administered endovascularly or intraluminally.
Therefore, there exists a need for a delivery and deployment device that can deploy a device or treatment in a stable, controlled manner with less friction and do so while maintaining or decreasing the delivery profile.